Presentations & Events

Lecture Presentation

Historical Perspective: Los Angeles’ Jewelry Industry, 1880 to the Present

A comprehensive survey of the Los Angeles jewelry industry from its origins in the 1880s through the present day — covering manufacturing, education, design, retail, and importing. The presentation traces the emergence of the downtown Los Angeles jewelry district, the second-largest in the United States, and profiles the city’s most distinguished jewelry houses: Brock, Montgomery, Laykin, Ruser, Flato, Kazanjian, Katz, and others.

Suitable for audiences with an interest in Los Angeles history, design history, the decorative arts, or the American jewelry trade. Available for booking by museums, libraries, universities, historical societies, and private organizations.

Lecture Presentation

Hollywood Jewelers: The Great Romance of Film and Jewelry

A century of the relationship between the film industry and the jewelry world — the jewelers who made their names dressing Hollywood, the designers who shaped the look of an era, and the famous pieces that became as iconic as the films themselves. The presentation covers Laykin et Cie, Paul Flato, Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Tiffany, and others, tracing the stylistic periods that defined Hollywood jewelry from the silent era through the present.

Stories include the jewelry of Lucille Ball, Mae West, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Lana Turner, Demi Moore, and many others, drawing on Laykin’s own archive of client relationships spanning nearly a century. This presentation has been delivered in Los Angeles, New York, and Shanghai. Available on request for museums, film societies, cultural organizations, and private events.

Book a Presentation

Both presentations are available to qualifying organizations at no charge. We welcome inquiries from institutions of any size.